Actually, no. Van Gundy has been trying to get Francis to take the same shots with much less dribbling and to force tempo without turning the ball over. IOW, play the game efficiently. Game 3 is perhaps Francis's most efficient NBA game ever.
I feel JVG is smart. All the season he want yao be the center of the O and that time I always feel why wast SF's talent. If we run our O by two legs(yao and Sf) it must be better than just one leg(yao's O). Now I know this is the JVG's stritegy. He save this leg(sf's O) for playoffs. This kind of O he is also very good at it just like the new york's back court O(Hoston and Spree). Great job JVG and This is the Rox what we talk about. Go Rox. all the way to finals.
Look, the Lakers were trying to take away Yao last night plain and simple. Yao set some awesome picks and Steve, Cat, JJ, and BOKI were awesome. I would be willing to bet that the Lakers go away from doubling and tripling Yao in favor of more defense on Steve and the perimeter in Sunday's game. Yao will have to step up big and make them eat it. The NBA game is all about matchups and making adjustments. The Lakers adjusted to cut off Yao and we found the right matchups and the open shooter off the double team and the pick and roll. It was great decision making for Francis. Thought I'd never say that. But he controlled the game from the point, by getting everybody involved and executing the offense and taking what the defense gave him, which last night was mostly off the high pick. The next step for Steve is to recognize when the Lakers are doubling him on the perimeter and cutting off his penetration and just lob the ball to Yao and spot up for either a good shot or a shovel to another wide open shooter. The other thing we have to remember about Steve's shot. His wrist has been messed up for a while now. He said last night it is starting to come around. Hence, the jumper starts falling. If he gets the 3 point bomb back in his arsenal, this team is going to be soooooo much tougher to beat.
I wanted the Rockets to trade Steve after the season, but he is making me think twice now. I hope he can keep it up!
Francis's stock is rising incrediablly fast and make me wonder if Rockets should trade him at all in the summer. However, I must reserve my judgement on Francis before he face better competition at PG position. Francis hasn't had chance to be exposed at defense. Payton and Fisher are not exactly good PG. Mobley has taken bulk of the load on defensive end with Kobe so far in this series. If Francis can play like this vs Tony Parker or Sam Cassel, I say we keep him. Unfortunately, we may never find that out this year.
He still seems a little lax on the D, but with a team like the lakers you see the gaurds doubling other players other then their own men all the time...
